New Healthier McDonald's Happy Meal Is Sweet Music for Rekindled Disney Partnership

McDonald's had already announced that a new, healthy Happy Meal is in the works. The Disney partnership is icing on the cake.

I can fondly remember taking my kids to McDonald's many times when they were younger -- buying Happy Meals for all, then watching as they played on the McPlayground in front of our local restaurant. I also remember that, back then, Disney had a virtual lock on Happy Meal marketing. Every new Disney film brought a new Happy Meal toy or figurine or other tchotchke, including 101 Dalmations, Nemo, Cars, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

This all changed this month when McDonald's announced that it was going to make its Happy Meals healthier -- a policy change that was applauded by many. In a media statement, McDonald's said,

"In June 2018, 100 percent of the meal combinations offered on Happy Meal menu boards in the U.S. will be 600 calories or fewer, and 100 percent of those meal combinations will be compliant with the new nutrition criteria for added sugar, saturated fat, and 78 percent compliant with the new sodium criteria."

More specifically, cheeseburgers are off the Happy Meal menu and will only be available by customer request. A small order of fries will be replaced by a kid's size, and chocolate milk will be pulled from Happy Meals while McDonald's works on creating a version with less sugar.

This was music to Disney's ears, and it was just announced that the two business giants will rekindle their Happy Meal marketing relationship. All this comes just in time for Disney to create a Happy Meal-based marketing campaign for its upcoming Incredibles 2 (summer 2018) and Wreck-It Ralph 2 (fall 2018) animated film releases.